Electroplating apparatus



Macll-l, 1937. A M BRQWN ET AL 'I 2,073,679

ELECTROPLATING APPARATUS 4 A Filed Feb. 5, 1935 R0., 5.a .ow Mf i l Patented Mar. 16, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE I ELECTROPLATING APPARATUS Morris Brown, La Grange, Ill., and Stephen F. OConnor, Lakeview, Mont., assignors to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application February 5, 1935, Serial No. 5,008 s claims. (01. 20L-'5r This invention relates to electroplating appa.r ratus and more particularly to racks for holding of the invention contemplates a rack having an apertured portion for receiving articles to be electroplated, a solid back portion, means for securing the portions together, and resilient elements carried by the back portion and positioned `to engage the articles for holding the articles in close engagement with the apertured portion and for forming electrical contacts with the articles to complete circuits therethrough. y

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. 1, is a front elevational view of the rack mounted in an electroplating tank;'

Fig.v 2A is a .fragmentary vertical sectional view of the rack on an enlarged scale taken along line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3` is a horizontal sectional View on an enlarged scale taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and

0 Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the upper part of this rack, with portions of A the structure shown broken away.

Referring now to the drawing, wherein like reference numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views, numeral I0 designates an apertured portion of the rack, this portion being in the form of a plate having a plurality of apertures II therein. Annular grooves or rabbets I2 are disposed concentric with the apertures II for receiving ang'es of articles I3 to be plated. In the present embodiment of the invention the articles I3 consist of cup-shaped electrode members for carbon transmitters, the innerV surfaces 5 of which are to be gold-plated. To avoid wasting the plating material by plating surfaces of the article which are not necessary to be plated,"the bottom walls of the annular grooves I2' are tapered inwardly to form a sealing vedge I4 into engagement with which the cups are held, as

hereinafter described.

A second plate-shaped portion I6 of the rack has grooves I1 extending longitudinally therein.

. Each of these grooves has a wide article receiving portion adjacent to the surface and a narrower terminal receiving portion extending deeper into` the plate I6. Resilient terminals or retaining springs I8 are disposed in these grooves where they have their upper ends `rigidly secured to conductive strips 22 mounted in the narrow por- 5 tions of the grooves and extend outwardly and downwardly away from the strips 22 so that their ends will engage the cups or articles I3 and hold them in close engagement with the sealing edges I4. The strips 22 are all electrically connected to 10 a metallic cross member 20, which extends acrossl the top of the rack portion I6 where it is secured to the rack, the metallic member having a metallic supporting hook 2| secured thereto by any suitable means, such as welding. The means for 15 electrically connecting the resilient terminals I8 to the metallic member 20 consists of strips of conductive material 22 placed in the grooves Il* and in electrical engagement with which each of the terminals of each group are disposed. 20

The portions I0 and I6 of the rack are removably secured to each other by channel members 26 formed of suitable resilient sheet material Awhich are Aplaced over the` sides and lower endsof the rack portions for securing the rack por- 25- faces of the cups or articles I3 may be given a 35 coating of gold andthe coating solution may contain sodium gold cyanide. It will be understood' that suitable anodes (not shown) are provided, preferably suspended in the solution adjacent to the perforated faces of the racks. Any 40 suitable or usual means may be used for supplying the plating current. f

In assembling the rack to coat the Varticles I3, the apertured portion Ill may be placed upon a table with the annular grooves I2 positioned up- 45 wardly and each groove provided with an article I3 to be coated. When the articles have been disposed in the grooves, the portion I6 of the rack is placed upon the portion III and in so doing, each of the terminals I8 engages one of the 50 articles, forcing the articles in close engagement with the sealing edges I4 and forming electrical contacts with the articles. The portions III and I6 are held in proper relative positions by means of the pins 24; and as soon as the channel mem- 65 bers 26 are disposed in place, the rack is in readiness for the plating operation. Portions I and I6 of the rack are formed'of any suitable material asl for example, hard rubber so lthat they will not be aifected by the plating solution and as soon as the circuits are completed through the plating solution and the articles, the inner surfaces of the articles wifi be plated as they are the only surfaces effectively exposed to the plating solution. It will be understood that the sealing joints of the rack are not necessarily liquid tight and that the solution penetrates into the interior thereof. 'I'he space around the articles, however, is so restricted and the quantity of liquid surrounding the protected portions is so small that the amount of plating on these portions Will be negligible if any. The sealed joints should be sufficiently tight to prevent any substantial circulation of solution into the interior of the rack during the plating operation.

Although the invention has been disclosed and described as applied to an apparatus for electro- -plating a specic form of article, it is clear that the apparatus has a more general application and that the apparatus may be used for other plating or coating processes without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a rack for supporting articles while being'coated, a member having apertures and recesses adjacent the apertures for receiving articles to be coated, a sealing member for sealing the surfaces of the articles except those communicating with the apertures, and means for securing said members together, said means sealing connecting edges` of said members against the l entrance of coating solution between said members.

ing coated, a member having an aperture and a recess adjacent the aperture for receiving an article to be coated, a sealing member for sealing the surfaces of the article except those communicating with the aperture, and means disposed in said sealing member for holding the 2. In a rack for supporting an article while bel 44A rack for supporting articles during electroplating comprising a portion having a plurality of plating apertures for exposing the portion of the surfaces to be plated, a second portion cooperating with the first for enclosing the portions of the articles not to be plated, said second portion having grooves therein into which the articles extend, and resilient contact members in said grooves for positioning the articles and conducting current thereto.

5. A rack for supporting articles during electroplating comprising a member with a plurality of recessed apertures arranged in rows to receive the articles, a second member cooperating therewith and having a groove for each row of said apertures, and a plurality of resilient contact members in each groove to retain the articles in position and conduct plating current to the articles.

6. In a rack for supporting articles during electroplating, a base having recessed apertures for receiving the articles and exposing the surfaces to be plated, a cooperating grooved plate devised to enclose the articles and seal the surfaces not to be plated, a plurality of resilient contact mem" STEPHEN F. OCONNOR. .MORRIS BROWN. 

